I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely and you managed the many interactions with family and friends as an Agent of Civility. Civility you ask? Really, what is that any more? That is such a last century or even an 19th century concept. Didn’t it go out with writing by hand? Google AI says “Acting civil means behaving with courtesy, politeness, and respect towards others, even in disagreement”*. Well, we sure seem to do a better job of that in person than anywhere on line. I read that X rolled out a new feature indicating country of origin of its users. Then several hours later it was withdrawn supposedly because of inaccuracies that they plan to fix. The number of outraged posts from off shore appeared to be over 40%. So is incivility a foreign plot to stir up an uncivil war in the US?
Perhaps civility is a way to mend the distrust and division we are experiencing. As my Mother used to say, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything. I used to say that was terribly boring. Now, I think boring is a blessing. Like peace and quiet.
So, I propose a new movement: The Agents of Civility. You can join for free! When given the opportunity to say something snarky, denigrating or mean, you will smile and say nothing, or say something non committal like hmmm. You will reward yourself by noting “that was one”. And, if you have the opportunity to do it again, you will note “that was two.” Keep a note on your phone of how many times you were an Agent of Civility. Let me know how it goes this week.
If you don’t think Vistage peer groups get value at every meeting-from the speakers, the conversations and the input from your peers, don’t click here.
*Just wondering, when we quote AI do we need to put it in quotation marks?